Unitary sanitary napkin



March 16, 1948. H. s` cRoFT 2,438,039

' UNITARY SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Aug. 13, 1945 Patented Mar. 16, 1948UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFICE UNITARY SANITARY NAI-"KIN Harold SidneyCroft, Elwood, Victoria, Australia Application August 13, 1945, SerialNo. 610,491 In Australia May 29, 1945 Claims. (Cl. 12S-284) Thisinvention relates to sanitary napkins used upon infants and has for itsobject to provide relatively economical sanitary napkins that may beused with safety and comfort with infants and discarded as and whenrequired.

It is customary, at present, to protect children by employing textilenapkins which call for repeated laundering thus entailing considerabletime and labour and, at times, causing much inconvenience when itbecomes necessary to dry the napkins during inclement weatherconditions.

By the present invention, the necessity for laundering is entirelydispensed with, the napkins being of such a character and of suchreasonable cost that enables them to be completely discarded after usewith consequential saving of time, labour and expense.

Furthermore, by using sanitary napkins in accordance with the invention,the outer garments of an infant are protected, and under normalconditions, such outer garments are prevented from becoming stained orwet during bowel evacuations and fluid excretions thereby enabling theuse of the outer garments for relatively longer periods and, in thatway, still further reducing the expenditure of time and labour inlaundering operations.

The invention will be readily understood from the following descriptionaided by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagram showing one way in which a blank of gauze-liketextile fabric may be folded in order to constitute a foundation elementof a napkin and to enclose an absorbent pad.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a napkin illustrating a way of retaining anabsorbent pad within the foundation element, whereby the pad may beremoved, if so desired, and replaced by another pad.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross section on line 3--3 of Figure 2.

A sanitary napkin in accordance with the invention includes a square, orother suitably shaped, foundation piece A of textile fabric such, forexample, as gauze, butter muslin, cotton or like suitable material whichis relatively inexpensive.

Referring more especially to Figure 1, a rightangled triangular sideportion B of the foundation piece is folded back, in an inwarddirection, from one corner C of the foundation piece about a straightline D extending from corner C to a point about midway of one of theedges E, F between which the opposite corner G is formed.

An opposite right-angled triangular portion I-I is also folded inwardlyin a similar manner about line I. The respective triangular portions Band I-I, When folded, thus combine to form a substantially isoscelestriangle having its apex at corner C and its base J formed by the foldedportions of side edges E and F. The edges B' and H of the portions B andH are preferably overlapped slightly as indicated in Figure 1 to formclosing naps.

The triangular portion or flap K extending from corner G may then befolded along the base of the isosceles triangle, while the tip of theapex or corner portion L may be folded back as seen in Figure 2.

An absorbent pad M composed of cottonwool, or any other appropriatematerial such as wood or like cellulose, may be placed upon the blankbefore folding operations commence although it may be, if so desired,placed in position after folding has been completed. This pad isgenerally of oblong shape with one end portion IVI (i. e` the portiondestined to extend at the front of an infant) somewhat tapered androunded, while the other end may be cut on the square.

Opposite side edges M of the pad may have recesses at positions wherethe pad is destined to extend between the legs of an infant.

Various means may be adopted to prevent inadvertent displacement of thepad within the folded foundation element.

According to Figure 2, the pad M although prevented from any substantialinadvertent displacement may be withdrawn from the envelope and replacedby another pad if so desired. To permit of such interchangeability, twotransverse lines of stitching are employed but such stitching does notpass through the pad. Thus one line of stitching N' extends parallelwith base J at a position slightly beyond the larger end of the pad M,while a second line of stitching N extends slightly beyond the smalleror tapered end of the pad. In this embodiment it is preferred for theouter extremity K of iiap K to be turned inwardly and backwardly toensure that the iiap is devoid of any exposed loose end. It will also benoted that stitching N" extends across the turned back apex portion L.

It will thus be appreciated that edges B and H', where they extend overthe pad M are not secured together, and 'can be separated, as indicatedin Figure 2, to permit of access to the pad-accommodating pocket formedbetween the lines of stitching N and N and the side edges D and I sothat a soiled p ad may be removed and a fresh pad inserted as and whendesired. By such means, the envelope constituted by the foundationelement, which is capable of ready laundering, may be repeatedly usedwith a fresh pad upon each occasion.

Instead of employing spaced lines of stitching as aforesaid for securingthe innerand outer walls of the foundation element together, latex orany other suitable adhesive may be Vused for this purpose.

The improved napkin is suitable for complete disposal when required.Normally the bulk of the assembled napkin prevents the use vof .a watercloset or toilet for disposal. However, this difficulty may be overcomeby separating the ab sorbent pad from the foundation element bywithdrawing the pad from its pocket through the access opening forindependent disposal. The separate parts are capable of passing throughthe discharge pipe of the usual type of water closet or toilet withoutcausing any blockage.

Another important advantage is that the absorbent pad may be readilywithdrawn from its pocket in the foundation element without having tohandle the soiled par-t of the inner wall of the foundation elementwhich provides a continuous or unbroken surface which is not liable tolcause chatting or irritation to the user.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sanitary napkin or diaper comprising a foundation element of gauzelike pervious fabric in the form of an isosceles triangle and havinginner and outer walls secured together at two lines vextendingtransversely and spaced lengthwise of the height of the triangle so asto form a pocket, an absorbent pad of disintegrable ma terial removablyseated in said pocket, said pocket having an access opening in saidouter wall and extending lengthwise of the height of the trianglebetween said securing lines and which is normally closed by unattachedoverlapping aps whereby the component parts of the napkin may be readilyseparated for independent disposal by withdrawing the pad from itspocket through said access opening without having to handle the soiledpart of the inner wall.

2. A napkin according to claim 1, wherein the foundation element isconstituted by a rectangular blank of textile fabric which is foldedabout two major folds extending in opposite directions from one cornerof the rectangle to about midway of the side vedges between which theopposite corner of the rectangle is formed so that the two side edgesextending from said first mentioned` corner are brought into adjacentrelationship and extend from about the centre of the base of thetriangle to the apex thereof, a triangular fiap portion of the blankincluding the said opposite corner being folded inwardly about 4 a lineco-incident with the base of the triangle.

3. A napkin according to claim 1, wherein the foundation element isconstituted by a rectangular blank of textile fabric which is foldedabout two major folds extending in opposite directions from one cornerof the rectangle to about midway of the side edges between which theopposite corner of the rectangle is formed so that the ltwo side edgesextending from 'said first mentioned corner are brought into adjacentoverlapping relationship and extend from about the centre of the base ofthe triangle to the apex thereof, a triangular flap or portion of theblank Vincluding the said opposite corner being folded inwardly about a,line co-incident with the base of the triangle, the securing linesconstituting rows of stitching, one row of stitching being substantiallyparallel with the base of the triangle and passing through a turned backedge portion of said triangular flap, while the other row of stitchingextends near the apex of the triangle, both of said rows of stitchingcrossing said adjacent overlapping edge portions, the absorbent padbeing .located within the foundation element between .the said two rowsof stitching.

4. A napkin according to claim l, wherein said absorbent pad is ofelongated and substantially rectangular form with one end portion oftapered formation so as to fit within said pocket and wedge between theinclined opposite side edges of the foundation element whereby the padis removably retained in its operative position without .being securedto said foundation element.

5. A sanitary napkin or diaper comprising an envelope having inner andouter walls of pervious 4sheet material and being in the form of atriangle, an access opening in the outer wall extending longitudinallyof the height of the triangle and which is normally closed byover-lapping aps, said inner and outer walls being secured togetheralong two lines which are spaced longitudinally of said access openingto form a 'pocket within the envelope, and an absorbent pad removablyseated in said pocket by means of said access opening.

H. S. CROFT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 342,043 Samuel May 18, 18861,765,105 Skinner June 17, 1930 1,954,457 Myers Apr. 1'0, 1934'2,164,408 Joa July 4, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 299,095Great Britain Oct. 25, 1928

